


‘romance’ by barry and lup in g major

by alltears



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (sorta) - Freeform, Almost Sex, Anxiety Disorder, Barry has anxiety, Deal With It, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Like Too Many Sex Jokes, Lots of sex jokes, Love Confessions, Lup is Hot, Making Out, Music, Songfic, The Duet, Trans Female Character, but then they don't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 14:04:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltears/pseuds/alltears
Summary: what we didn’t see before and after lup and barry performed.(aka barry and lup finally confess how they feel, featuring sex god barry bluejeans)





	‘romance’ by barry and lup in g major

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello! i want to start by saying that lup is socially and physically transitioned, and there is a MISUNDERSTANDING in which lup thinks barry doesn't like her because she's trans. this is not true and not a central plot or anything. also, barry has anxiety throughout.
> 
> moving on, i really hope you like this lil guy! this is one of my favorite stories ive written, because i used a slightly different style/format and i liked it a lot. 
> 
> this is sorta a songfic but not really? more of a songsfic. all of the songs quoted are on my blupjeans playlist (which i will have a link to at the end of the fic), and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the song that barry and lup perform is ROMANCE BY ERNST MIELCK. FOR BEST RESULTS, LISTEN TO THAT SONG WHILE READING. it totally fits them and makes me sob cause im a music dork.
> 
> ENJOY!

_ she’s clumsy, and i’m stupid - these are things that we can live with. _

_ Butterflies by Samsa _

✿ ✿ ✿

Barry was skilled at many things.

Of course, he was an ace when it came to science. Biology, chemistry, fucking bird anatomy - you name it, Barry could tell you all about it. Barry could handle himself in the kitchen, too, even though the twins would never admit it. He could always loosen tight bottle caps, he could fix any pair of broken glasses with a pencil and a bit of cardboard, and he could always make Lup laugh, even when she was sad.

Barry was not, however, artistically inclined, so when Davenport suggested that they all create a beautiful work of art to feed to the giant jellyfish, he panicked. Being on stage in front of  _ hundreds _ was bad enough, but to have to master an instrument or learn how to paint or whatever it was that Davenport was suggesting sounded like a living nightmare.

Apparently, his feelings showed.

“Hey Barry, you look like shit! What’s up, bub?” Lup sauntered over to where he sat, shellshocked on the couch. She plopped down on the footrest in front of him and slapped her palms onto his knees. Barry couldn’t find the energy within him to get flustered at the contact.

“I’m stuck,” he sighed. “How am I supposed to get up on a stage and…  _ perform _ ?” Barry spit the word out like it was poison.

“I don’t think you have to perform. Apparently, Maggie’s gonna carve a dildo or some shit. I wasn’t really listening.”

(Barry could always make Lup laugh, and naturally, she could do the same.)

“Gross,” Barry snorted. “What are you doing?”

“No clue,” Lup leaned back on the stool in thought, her messy hair falling behind her shoulders. Barry had come to the conclusion that Lup would never return his feelings, so going forward, he memorized every simple joy about her. From the way her hair fell effortlessly, to the way she moaned when she ate something especially delicious, to the way she looked in her IPRE cape, a stunning gown, or a plain hoodie when she was feeling dysphoric - she was beautiful, and he was lucky enough to even witness her. He could practically see the lightbulb turn on in her head as a sly smile spread across her face. “What if we did it together?”

“What?” Barry’s face grew warm. “Oh, sure. That would be great!”

“Yeah?” Lup’s excitement grew and she clapped her hands twice. “Yes! Let’s do it! You and me, Bar, the dream team! What do you want to do?” Her energy was infectious, and Barry found himself no longer dreading the absolute hell out of their performance. 

“Um… What if we learned instruments?” Lup scrunched up her nose.

“I thought about singing, but Taako laughed so hard when I said it that I’m thinking maybe not. He’s an asshole.”

“He’s your brother!”

“Irrelevant,” she smiled fondly. “I don’t know what I would even play.”

“Well, wait - Didn’t your aunt play the fiddle? What if you did that, or a violin?” Barry suggested.

“Aw man, how’d you remember that?” Lup nodded. “That’d be… that’d be really nice, I think. Good idea.” Barry grinned.

“I can play… I don’t know, what sounds good with strings?” He scrubbed a hand over his face in thought.

“Well,” Lup started, following Barry’s hand with her eyes before meeting his. “My auntie used to play along with Fantasy Beethoven. It was nice.”

“Piano. Huh,” Barry stared down at his hands. “I don’t think my hands are all that great, though. I guess they’re big, that’s good, right?” 

Barry looked up to find Lup’s cheeks red as she stared at Barry’s hands with the same intensity as he had moments before. 

“Uhm, yep! Yep! Let’s start tomorrow. I’m gonna go - dinner - bye!” Lup scrambled off her perch on the stool and disappeared into the kitchen.

Weird.

✿ ✿ ✿

_ sometimes you gotta close your eyes to truly see the light. _

_ Motorcycle by The Front Bottoms _

✿ ✿ ✿

Composing a duet for instruments you barely play with the girl you’re in love with proved to be a harder task than Barry expected. Somehow.

Luckily, they were an excellent - if not  _ super  _ dorky - team, and they managed to finish their song with three months left in their year. It was a slow, calming lullaby that Barry wrote with a particular quiet night spent with Lup in mind. There were two slight moments in their piece where Lup dropped out and Barry took the lead, and all he could think about when he played was when Lup dozed with her head in his lap and his hand in her hair. 

Barry was at a loss for words when Lup asked him what he thought about when writing the song.

“What? Why?” Barry asked from where he sat cross-legged on the edge of the stage they would be performing on in a weeks’ time. He looked up from the pencil he was sharpening and met Lup’s eyes, level to his from where her head dangled off the piano. She was lying flat on her back on the closed Grand, a pencil in her mouth.

“We need a title, BJ. ‘Barry and Lup Project’ probably shouldn’t be what’s printed in the program,” she giggled.

“I hate when you call me BJ,” Barry deflected. Lup slid the pencil between her fingers and took it out of her mouth before tapping the eraser on her nose.  _ Adorable. _

“You know you love it!”

“Okay,  _ Lulu _ -” Lup yelped in protest and flashed him a middle finger. “What do  _ you  _ want to call it?”

“Nope!” She rolled onto her stomach and smiled devilishly. “I asked you first!”

Barry groaned. When Lup wanted information, it was impossible for her not to get it. Maybe Barry was just bad at saying no to her. 

“Well… I guess I thought about, uh, love. When we wrote it. I guess.”

Lup’s demon-smile turned softer.

“That could be our title,” she pulled her legs underneath her to sit up on her knees, and she spread her hands out in front of her intently. “‘Love’ by Bluejeans and Taaco. That’s something!”

_ Love by Bluejeans and Taaco. _

_ Love by Barry and Lup. _

_ Love. _

“Romance,” the word left Barry’s mouth before he knew it was happening. “It’s more specific.”

Lup smiled and winked.

“‘Romance’ it is.”

✿ ✿ ✿

_ blue jeans, white shirt, walked into the room, you know you made my eyes burn. _

_ Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey _

✿ ✿ ✿

Gods, Barry was nervous. Standing backstage, waiting for his name to be called so he could perform, was worth twenty Lup-Said-She-Wants-To-Talk’s, ten Lup-Is-Crying’s, and at least three Someone-Woke-Up-Taako’s. He’d cracked his knuckles over and over again and tried to focus on his breathing like Merle suggested. He was eternally grateful for a tap on his shoulder to bring him out of his panicked train of thought.

No breathing techniques could have prepared him for Lup in a full-length white gown with a  _ very  _ high slit over her leg. Her hair was pulled in a complex braided bun with twin curled sections resting on either side of her face. 

_ She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. _

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Barry immediately slapped his hands over his mouth. “Sorry! Nerves!”

Lup blinked, wide-eyed, before slipping into nonchalance and poking his shoulder.

“You’re not so bad yourself, pumpkin,” she rubbed her lips together to smooth out her ruby lipstick and played with her rings. “Are you really nervous?”

“Gods, yeah. I feel like it’s a thousand degrees in here. Is it? Is it hot?” Barry scratched the back of his neck and loosened his collar.

“Hey,” Lup mumbled and put her cool hands on Barry’s warm cheeks. “Hey! It’s okay, Barry. Look at me. The only hot stuff here is you and me, okay? Breathe for me.”

She took some deep, long breaths with him until his anxiety subsided.

“Okay. Okay. Sorry.”

“You’re golden, baby!” Lup patted his cheeks and adjusted his bowtie. “We’re gonna blow these nerds’ minds. You and me.”

“You and me.”

_ “Please welcome to the stage, Barry Bluejeans and Lup… er, Taco, performing their composition entitled ‘Romance’.” _

✿ ✿ ✿

_ holding your hand and gripping tightly to your fingertips, watching with a nervous stare and wondering when lingering lips would meet again. _

_ Holding yr hand by Atlas _

✿ ✿ ✿

“Barry? Can we… talk?”

Usually, that question from anyone made Barry freeze up and enter a cold, lonely state of nervous until whatever horror was asked or said. When Lup said it, holding his hand tightly with tears running down her face, he wasn’t scared of what she wanted to talk about. He felt like the decades he’d spent loving from a distance, waiting and hoping and silently begging to every Gods that existed, were leading up to that performance, and more importantly, whatever was about to happen. 

“Yeah. I know a place.”

Lup didn’t drop his hand the entire walk to the building across the street, nor did her eyes dry. It was quiet, too, both of them feeling too much to say a word.

Barry brought her to the stuffy room they practiced in. A small piano sat in the corner facing a music stand, taking up most of the space available. Reluctantly, Barry dropped Lup’s hand once he sat her down in a chair, and she immediately began to wipe her eyes while Barry knelt down to take off her heels and set them on the piano. After opening the window that looked down over the alien city, he kneeled in front of Lup again and wrapped his hands with hers where they rested on her knee.

“Are you doing okay?” Barry murmured. Lup let out a watery, loud laugh and nodded.

“Yes!” Lup lifted their intertwined hands and kissed the back of one of Barry’s hands. “I just look gross now. I can’t imagine what’s happening to my eyes.”

“Close ‘em,” she did, and Barry freed his right hand and gently pulled off her messy fake lashes and brushed the smudged eyeliner and mascara away as best as possible. “Lup, you look perfect.”

“Agh,” Lup shook her head and opened her eyes. “You’re gonna make me cry again.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll stop,” Barry chuckled. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

Lup sighed, but a ghost of a smile stayed.

“You played wonderfully tonight. I’m really proud of you.”

“You too, Lup. We sorta nailed it,” Lup snorted and it was so  _ her _ that Barry almost started crying, too. “I’m really happy we did this.”

“Me too.”

A flute’s voice came flooding in the room from the orchestra hall they had only just left, and they both turned toward the window. It was a soft piece, much like their own, but lilting and high as opposed to the darkness of Lup’s violin. Barry waited until Lup smiled back at him before standing and offering the hand that wasn’t already in Lup’s out to her.

“Dance with me?” Lup stood without a moment’s thought and brought her hand to Barry’s shoulder. In turn, Barry placed his on her waist and pulled her close enough that their faces were mere inches away. They swayed in silence for a few minutes, both blushing madly and not sure where to look.

“This song wasn’t as good as ours,” Lup remarked, albeit awkwardly. 

“Nothing’s as good as us,” Barry sighed. “Not any two other people in the galaxy.” He could feel Lup’s breath hitch against his chest, and she gazed up at him through her messy eyelashes.

“That’s a sweet thing to say…”

“I mean it, Lup. I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you make me feel like no one else matters. You’re the most wonderful, stunning woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Seeing you play tonight was… magical. You’re magic, Lup, and any time I’m with you, I feel like I could be magic, too. I have never met anyone like you. I love your laugh, and I love when you cook me breakfast at 4:00am ‘cause we can’t sleep, and you put your hair up into that one style with a scrunchie, and I love…” he cut himself off before he could finish the sentence, but they both know where it was going.

“It’s called a half-pony,” Lup’s voice came out as a caught whisper, and she swallowed. “I love, too.”

There was a moment of silence as the flute stopped playing, and they forgot the song. 

Seconds later, it was back in their heads, booming and bountiful.

Barry started giggling.

Lup started giggling, too, and soon they were both uncontrollable in their laughter.

They moved closer at the same time and kissed, awkwardly around their wide smiles. Barry tightened his muscular arm around her waist to bring her infinitly closer. Soon enough, the awkwardness left, and they fell into an intimate, passionate embrace that only got more intense as time went on. Lup dropped her hand to Barry’s abdomen and slipped her fingers between the his shirt buttons. (Barry had to keep reminding himself this was real).

Barry slid his hands down her back and around to the backs of her thighs before hoisting her up and setting her down on the top of the piano. Lup bunched up her dress and wrapped her thighs around Barry’s hips with ease, and moaned softly against his lips when Barry gripped the tops of her now-exposed legs and brushed his thumbs repeatedly over her sensitive inner thighs. 

“Gods, you sound - fuck,” Against his better judgement, Barry pulled away from Lup and swiped a hand over his mouth. “We can’t - Taako’s making dinner to celebrate.”

“How  _ dare  _ you mention my brother’s name while you have a boner.”

“I have a -” Barry looked down, confirmed Lup’s statement, and looked up again. “Oh boy.”

“You could let me take care of it…” Lup grinned, hooking her fingers in Barry’s belt loops and tugging him towards her hips. Barry scrunched up his face and shook his head.

“We can’t, Lulu, we promised him.”

“Do you…” Lup frowned and released her grip. “Do you not want to… with me? Is it… Is it because I used to be...um? ‘Cause that’s - that’s  _ been sorted  _ down there, um-”

“No! Lup, you have no idea how badly I want you right now, how long I’ve wanted to…” he cracked his knuckles anxiously.

“You’re just being a really selfless person right now, huh?” Lup smiled slowly.

“I’m gonna have great karma tomorrow.”

“I hate that you’re a good person. You care about my family more than I do.”

“Please!” Barry snorted. “I’m just a little but hungrier than I am horny.”

Lup rolled her eyes playfully but stood anyways and adjusted her dress.

“Wow,” Lup picked up her shoes from the piano and held them by the heels. “To think I could have gotten fucked in this dress…”

“There’s always tomorrow.”

“Well, we already know you’ve got that good karma.”

“I can’t wait.”

Dinner went off without a hitch, despite everyone staring at them silently once they got back to the Starblaster.

_ “Lup! Why's your hair so messy?” _

_ “So, y’all had fun?” _

_ “Not as much fun as we could have.  _ Someone  _ wanted to be home for dinner.” _

Barry’s room became Lup and Barry’s room that night, and for every night moving forward.

If there was one thing that year taught him, it was that Barry Bluejeans was, apparently, very skilled.

✿ ✿ ✿

_ don’t like to ask too many questions, hate to complicate things. _

_ so baby won’t you help me understand just what it means to be in love. _

_ In Love by Khai Dreams _

✿ ✿ ✿

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u loved it! comments make my year so feel free to leave opinions below!
> 
> twt: @trobed_  
tumblr: @alltears  
spotify: @amazingbrado


End file.
